Due to his ongoing battle with liver disease — he had a liver transplant in 1997 — Ramirez had lost a tremendous amount of body weight and muscle mass in the last few years. In his weakened state, he collapsed Wednesday night at his home in New Jersey. Ramirez hit his head, which caused cerebral hemorrhaging. He was rushed to Holy Name Hospital in Teaneck, NJ, where he suffered two strokes and remained comatose until shortly after 8 pm tonight, when his family decided to let him go peacefully.

“I just saw him in the hospital today,” friend and comedian J.J. Ramirez (no relation) tells Laughspin. “He called me the night he fell about a gig we had just booked together in Chicago.” Ramirez continues: “He was very funny and a very clever writer. He could do Latin stuff and contemporary stuff. I was with him at the beginning of his career. He was a great guy and he’ll be very missed.”

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Our club and our acts have great memories of Rich. Take a minute to watch the great Rich Ramirez in action on our stage (back in the days when our wall was blue) in the clip below.

my heart breaks for the tremendous loss of our Ritchie!He was the consummate professional &an unbelievable sweet soul of a human being on this earth.We at SOUTH OF FRANCE bar/rest bx,ny will greatly miss him .His comedy shows here were legendary!We love you Rich & will never forget you. Rest in peace. Maribel& Virginia

I was Rich’s accompanist in NYC years ago and we kept in touch long after the good old days chatting over the phone often. We talked about everything from the Yankees to comedy to health, but Rich always held his head up high and was the best comic around. My wife and I are deeply saddened with the loss of Rich. Our prayers go out to his family as their hearts must be breaking like ours are. We love you Rich! You’re in a better place man.

I can’t believe it. My heartfelt sentiments to his family. I looked forward every year to attend his shows. I almost pee in my pants everytime he sang the “Gandinga” song. You know the one whose pinga was a small as his pinky finger.